Abstract Index playlist - December 13/06

So the tail has wagged the dog. I thought about what I was going to write about in this blog post before deciding what music I was going to bring with me last Wednesday. This is the first time I've ever been nudged in a musical direction from blog activities and I'm sure far from the last.

A couple of weeks ago, Zoilus posted about a "significant records in jazz from 1973-1989" list put together by Ethan Iverson of the Bad Plus and Dave Douglas. It's a great list, loaded with freedom sounds, freaky fusion, decent global representation and select mainstream and major label offerings. Since it's a list, you just gotta bitch about it. My beef is the complete absence of Latin Jazz (and not much jazz funk either). The notable exception is the long underrated Leonard Cohen of Latin skronk, Kip Hanrahan.

I won't get all huffy about it - as I said, the list is packed with great records. But Latin Jazz did seem to be a notable absence, especially when compiled by two groove-friendly types such as Douglas and Iverson. There is still a certain amount of selective memory when it comes to what popular forms have been reclaimed by the majority of jazz bloggers (Miles & Herbie-type fusion, Strata-East, even a certain amount of CTI) and which haven't (Latin jazz and jazz funk a la Roy Ayers - represented mostly in soul and funk blogs, not 'serious' jazz blogs). Fortunately, it's not too difficult to find good Latin jazz coverage online, and for music and detailed interviews, Descarga.com is always your first stop.

I sprinkled a few titles onto the wiki list (Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente and the Latin Jazz Percussion Jazz Ensemble and two by Jerry Gonzalez) , but that eventually led me to choose between Libre's "Con Salsa... Con Ritmo" (deeeeply soulful and Afro-Cuban, great version of Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee") Bobby Vince Paunetto 's "Commit to Memory" as one that I wanted to play at some point during the show.

The strength of Paunetto's disc is in the arrangements, which bring a George Russell ezz-thetic to the grooves. You're never sure where the melodies and harmonies are going, but everyone's locked in tight. One secret weapon is Ronnie Cuber, an essential part of Eddie Palmieri's band in the first part of the 70s, on baritone sax and flute. He peels off some energetic and challenging solos as the Rhodes floats around the changes, which as you can see, are reflected in the cosmic over art. Kenny Dope comped "Good Bucks" from this disc a couple of years ago, so you know this disc isn't off the radar.

This blog has a nice little entry about Paunetto, and also goes deep into the Latin jazz funk groove nexus. I'll add this site to the permanent collection.

gilbert was vague - mark trayle/vinnie golia (9 winds)
altain magataal - m. altangerel (no label) this is a great thread about Mongolian throat singing.
seven quarters - conjoint (buro)
untitled 4 - chateau flight (versatile)
indian stomp - cyrus (tectonic)
birds on parade - no luck club (no label)
high over sand - carsick (drip audio)
beto - ali farka toure (nonesuch)
kizildere -selda (b-music)
bunalim - bunalim (shadoks)
pantera - som imaginario (rev-ola)
an example of what I meant - mike hansen (etude)
chrysalis - lori freedman (ambiances magnetiques)
warriors - don pullen (blue note)
spanish maiden - bobby vince paunetto (rsvp)
jin ma jin ma - orchestra baobab (oriki)
la vie - sally nyolo/orchestre d'essonso (blood and fire)
road to axum - roots tonic (ROIR)
creator - john clarke (wackies)
have the strength - admiral tibet/twilight circus (M)
scientists thunder dub - roots radics (roots)
dub-bing - echo (